Patrick had been replaying the events of last night in his head repeatedly and he still couldn't get over how absolutely gorgeous Shade's daughter was. She was a walking dream for many men, he wished he could say himself included, but even his dreams were smart enough to not conjure such a vision for a man out of a job and down on his luck. No, that would be shooting way too far for his reach.

He had been a little starstruck when he followed them to the hallway and confirmed that the lady being chased by the good-looking man really was his target. The better lighting in the hallway allowed him see her very well....much too well in fact. There was not a flaw on her visible to the naked eye, the rich cocoa colour of her skin looked so much better in reality, her form could only be found on the pages of romance novels open to the exploration of imaginative writers and vivid to hungry readers, he knew for sure it wasn't natural to have such a body, there had to have been some other extra work put in it, her lips.... Heaven help him, those lips! He shivered at the thought of them.

"Brother"

His eyes shot to the bathroom door hearing Veronica's voice, "Yes?"

"Mrs Oche just called, she wants to speak to you."

"Okay, I'll be right out." He replied, he missed a beat before asking, "Did you see your food on the dining?" He had woken up early as usual to prepare her breakfast.

He still found it surreal that waking up by 4 am these days was simply for the purpose of preparing Veronica's breakfast and not roaming the streets to get something small to do that could earn him a little extra to get her a proper meal. The comfort in knowing there was enough in the fridge to whip up a good meal for Veronica was indescribable

"Yes brother, thank you. It was delicious." She replied gleefully.

He chuckled as he turned off the shower....another luxury he was starting to deeply appreciate, "You're welcome"

"Are you finished with the shower?" She asked.

"Yes" he replied, wondering why she would ask him that

"Thank God, I thought you would finish the water, you've been there for hours." She said.

He laughed boisterously, "Is it your water? Let me not catch you there when I come out, I will so beat you ehn." He threatened, his voice filled with laughter.

"You can't beat someone with mouth" she replied before he heard her scurry off.

He smiled to himself and shook his head. She was right, he always threatened to beat her but he never carried out his threat. Even when she did something wrong- which was rare, he never went past a scolding, but that wouldn't stop him from threatening to beat her.

He walked out of his bathroom with a towel wrapped around his waist and found his room empty as expected. He smiled again and went to the iPhone 5 Shade had gotten refurbished just for him. He had asked why she would give him the phone when she handed it to him like it was some random Nokia phone and she simply replied he would have to look the part he was playing in every aspect.

He was in no position to look a gift horse in the mouth and reject it anyway, so here he was using a phone that a month ago he would never have thought himself seeing in reality even less using it.

He picked it up and dialled the only number he had on it for now.

It barely rang when it was answered by a shriek, "You gorgeous devil!"

He knitted his brows in confusion, what was the excitement about?, "Good morning ma." He greeted evenly.

"I'm not your ma Patrick, call me Shade...if you continue making progress this fast, you'll be calling me mum in a few months." She said, her voice not losing it's excitement.

A light switch came on in his head, was this about Adun? He was suddenly eager to hear this feedback. He wanted to know what Adun thought of him and if Shade's tone was anything to go by it was certainly good. He almost smiled at the thought, but restrained himself. There was nothing to be excited for on his part, it was just a job. It was a job. He had to remember that.

"Tell me, what spell did you cast on my daughter? She called me today, I mean, Adunni actually called me and asked me if I tried to set her up with a guy"

His heart seized, was she on to him already? He was sure he hadn't given himself away last night. There was not one inclination that he had anything to so with Shade.

"...anyway I denied it and she said 'OK', I asked her if something was wrong, she said everything was fine, but I heard the happiness in her voice. She hasn't sounded that happy in years."

"Maybe she was happy about something else." He said, mostly to dull the excitement brewing within himself. Neither of them needed to be ahead of themselves for now, making unnecessary speculations and the likes. They really had nothing for now.

"Oh no, i'm her mother. She would never call me to ask me specifically about setting her up with a man, with the other guys she would openly call me out and tell me to stop meddling in her love life, but today, there were no accusations, no hostility. Oh, this is about you darling, you've charmed the fur coat off the Ice Queen herself. I should double your pay."

He smiled at her comment even though a small part of him jerked at the reminder that he was being paid for this, "Thank you" he replied modestly

"Now, we go into phase two. You lay low for a week and then you can run into her at the gym."

"What?" He asked. Phase two? Gym? They had only discussed phase one apparently.

"I got you a gym membership where she goes for her weekly exercise, when she goes for her gyming, you'll run into her and then you'll make a proper move. I doubt you made one last night, you're a smart young man playing it subtle." She teased.

Of course, he hadn't been sure if he was supposed to ask her out at their first meeting, but he figured it would be a little too forward especially after he had chased off that slimy guy only minutes before. He was glad that paid off as well.

"You should drop by with Veronica this evening after you've picked her from school so I give you an update on our next move." She suggested.

He now had a car courtesy of Shade, she had arranged a driver's license for him within a week in what he figured were less than legal means and handed him the keys to her newly repainted Jeep, because he 'needed to look the part'. The ease with which she spent money to prim him up for her daughter made him doubly determined to achieve his aim.

She certainly spared no expenses in creating the ideal man for Adun, if only Adun was fully aware the lengths to which her mother would go to help her find that special someone. It was both alarming and heartwarming.

"Okay, certainly." He replied.

"I should let you get back to what you're doing. Endeavor to get to the ICAN office on time for your registration and say me hi to Veronica."

"I will. Have a nice day" he replied.

"You too Denzel" she teased and then she was off the line.

He stared at the phone and sighed to himself. He better get to milking this thing for what it was worth

So many files, so many papers, so many documents she didn’t know what to do with or where they came from. She couldn’t remember a time her desk was this messy. She had been transferring most of her cases to her computer recently, but it seemed like she wasn’t doing enough.

She groaned to herself as one errant paper was blown off the desk by a gust of wind, where the hell was Chika anyway? That girl had an uncanny way of disappearing when she was most needed. She could only pray no one walked in on her while she was trying to make sense of the mess in front of her. It would make for such a terrible first impression if a potential client walked in on such chaos.

She picked up the paper and slammed it with a closer pile, placing a larger dossier on the pie to ensure no other piece flew away. By all accounts, this would qualify for a horrific work day, she had no doubt in her mind that she would be exhausted by the time she was done. Oh, Chika was going to get a good telling off if she didn’t return in a couple of minutes to assist with this

She heard a light knock against her door and her head shot up towards the entrance to her office. That wasn’t Chika, Chika never knocked, she just barged in especially when she was aware Adun wasn’t attending to any clients.

Adun looked at the haphazard nature of her work desk, what if it was a client out there? Oh heavens! This certainly wouldn’t do, “Who…who’s there?” she asked as she grabbed whatever files and papers she could reach and dropped them to the ground.

“Miss Oche? Is this a good time?”

The deep baritone coming from the other side of the door gave her a moment’s pause. Who was that with such a delicious voice? It sounded familiar as well, but she couldn’t place where she had heard the voice. She shook away the thoughts and went back to clearing her table, “I….just a minute” she replied.

She half-expected whoever it was to just walk away thinking her an unserious person. She wouldn’t hold it against him if he did. It took her a few more minutes, but she managed to clear out her desk and shove the files where they wouldn’t be noticed by the visitor.

She ran her fingers through her hair and smoothened any invisible wrinkles on her chiffon top before calling out, “You can come in now.” With as professional a voice as she could muster while she pretended to be looking through a case file. Better to appear busy to justify the time wasted.

The door opened much to her surprise, he hadn’t walked away. He must have a lot of free time on his hands, she reasoned, either that or his tolerance level was top notch. She sat a little straighter, focusing on the file in front of her as her visitor entered the room. The first thing that hit her was the smell of his cologne. Lord, where did he get such a scent? It was nothing like she knew; strong and masculine without being offensive to the nostrils. She inhaled just a little more preparing herself to behold this man with a commendable taste in deodorants. He was pretty big considering the way he seemed to fill up the room.

“Good afternoon sir, I apologise for….” The words got stuck in her throat as she finally raised her head from the file and laid eyes on…..him. She had to gulp to wet her parched throat as she sized up the man before her. What were the odds? Surely he had to be a figment of her imagination, of course. She had spent the past four or so days dreaming about the man, it would make sense if she was just seeing things.

She must have been staring for a long period of time, because tall, dark and sexy finally spoke up, “Seen enough?” he asked, his smooth voice filled with amusement.

Those words jolted her to the present. She blinked a couple of times, “I….” why did her voice sound so breathy? Ugh! She was a freaking adult! Not some pre-teen still trying to understand the opposite sex, she needed to stop acting all flustered around this man and act her damned age! She didn’t even know what kind of person he was, fine, he did save her from Kenneth, but that could have been a one-time thing. Men who looked like him, they were just like Kenneth and the other entitled fools her mother had continually tried to set her up with; they thought they were some special gift that should be worshipped by women. She hadn’t spent enough time with tall, dark and delicious to determine if he was as smooth a gentleman as her dreams presented him.

She coughed to clear her throat and sat a little straighter, “good afternoon, Sir…” Patrick, her brain reminded her. Of course, she knew his name, she could never forget such a tasty name for a…., “....how may I assist you?” she chided herself. She needed to stop thinking up random adjectives to describe this man.

He gave her a charming smile that reached deep within her, places she would rather not think of while he stood in front of her, “You look nice.” He said, ignoring her question. He was yet to take a seat and she couldn’t decide if that was because he wasn’t interested in one or she hadn’t offered him any.

She didn’t like having to look up at his tall frame, how tall was this guy? 6ft3”? “4 maybe? Whichever it was, his mere size made the room smaller. She had never thought of her office as a small one, but this man seemed to take up the entire space, “Thank you.” She gave him a tight smile, “Please, sit.” She offered, pointing toward a vacant chair.

He glanced at the chair, his expression seemingly one of disinterest, and then focused his attention back on her, “And if I don’t want to?” he asked with a raised brow and a smirk

“Excuse me?” she asked

“If I don’t want to.” He repeated, emphasizing each word that left his full, gorgeous lips.

She shook the thought out of her head to focus on his defiance, “If you don’t want to sit, then I assume you’re here for some other reason that isn’t related to my work, hence, I’ll have to ask you to leave.” She replied testily. She couldn’t stop the pride that shot through her just knowing she had been able to say that to him in that voice, it was a sharp cry from how she really felt inside. This bravado she was putting on was just a façade, inside her she was quivering in barely held in anticipation that just maybe she was about to have one of her fantasies fulfilled.

He walked….or swaggered more of, toward her in strong strides. Her eyes briefly went to the closed door, wondering if Chika would burst in anytime soon. While one side of her wished that would happen, just so she wouldn’t have to do anything she would curse herself for afterwards, a larger part wished Chika would remain wherever she was till the Adonis in her office had finished his business.

He sidled past the corner of her desk and sat on it, his large frame effectively blocking the only side through which she could make her escape- not that she was thinking along that line of course, “And what if I don’t leave?” he asked ,his words dripping with a confidence she didn’t particularly like. His current attitude was certainly reminiscent of the many jerks she had gotten the pleasure of cutting down over the years, but for some reason, it didn’t conjure the same feelings of loath she felt with the others. It excited her instead, but what kind of woman would she come off as allowing such transgressions go unpunished?

She stood up slowly until she was looking down at him- thanks, in no small measure, to the four-inch heels she had on her feet, “I will not allow you make a nuisance of yourself in my place of work Mr….” she didn’t even know his last name, she had been having recurrent dreams and fantasies about a man whose last name, she wasn’t privy of. Holy Heavens! This had to be the dumbest crush she had ever had, the thought further irked her, “…Sir! So, I repeat, if you don’t have anything sensible to do in my office, leave!” she said firmly.

He cocked his head to the side as if in thought, “I never thought you could be this feisty. I wonder though….” He reached out for her and pulled her to him. she found herself staggering towards him, her hand shot out to steady herself and grabbed him by the shoulder, even beneath the grey suit he had on, she could feel the sinewy muscles of his broad shoulders.

Her breath caught in her throat as her face got close to his…too close, so that she could see every delectable feature he possessed on his handsome face. he wasn’t a beautiful man, no. Beautiful was for men whose looks were a little more feminine, he was all man. Hard planes and sharp curves. Her fingers itched to just explore every fine detail of his face, but she kept her hand firmly on his shoulder,

“…if you’re this feisty under the sheets.” He finished, his voice low and suggestive.

She closed her eyes briefly as a delicious shiver ran through her. It wasn’t fair that one man should have this sort of power. She felt his fingers against her cheek and leaned into his touch.

“You’re so beautiful.” He spoke close to her ear, she could feel his breath against her skin, it was minty, it made for a heady mix with his cologne. She melted into him, searching for more of his heat, “So, so beautiful.” His lips grazed her ear and she gripped his shoulder tighter to support herself as her knees weakened at the light touch.

All he had to do was move a little closer, just a little and his lips would meet hers, she waited in anticipation, for that move. Her lips quivering at the thought of his meeting hers, just imagining it all this time had done so much to her psyche. She wondered if he would be a good kisser, if the mere touch of his lips would cause her to orgasm on the spot like in her dreams. The anticipation was killing her.

Rather than move towards her lips though, he gravitated toward her ear, “Answer your phone Adun.” He whispered.

She opened her eyes at those words to see him smiling at her, what the hell was he talking about? She looked down at her mobile which was on the desk, it wasn’t ringing. Puzzled eyes went to his still smiling face, “It’s not ringing.” She stated in a voice that was as breathless as ever.

“Are you sure about that?” he asked, his smile unwavering.

It was her turn to cock her head at him, she was about to ask if he was feeling okay when she finally heard it. Avicii’s Wake Me Up seemed to surround the entire office. She looked down at the mobie on her desk, it wasn’t ringing still. What…..? she raised her head up and found that Patrick was gone, almost like he had disappeared from her office…..it took only a moment for her to realise what was going on…..

Adun’s eyes shot open. It was a struggle to get acquainted with her surroundings, but once she realised that she was once again inside her bedroom, she sat up quickly. The song had ended- the ringing had stopped. What the…? She buried her face in her palms and groaned. Not again. What was going on with her? These dreams had to stop, they had gone on for too long. One week was already an overload, but it was now turning to two weeks and she had run out of ideas on how to stop Patrick from being a recurring feature in her dreams. It was unlike her to have dreams about a man. She had found even the idea of dreaming about a man ridiculous and had laughed whenever Chika mentioned it, well, nothing was funny now. The worst thing was, she couldn’t even bring herself to tell Chika about the dreams, she had mentioned Patrick to her best friend the day after the anniversary event, but it was only in passing. She was too ashamed to bring up such an occurrence to Chika. What if she laughed at her? Okay, maybe she was taking it too far, Chika would never…..oh, no, her friend would guffaw in her face.

She groaned once more and dug her hands in her hair. She needed to get a hold of herself.

The sound of her phone ringing again, caused her to turn a sharp look toward the offensive device, a part of her wished she was still in her dream state. As much as it annoyed her that she was constantly dreaming of Patrick, she couldn't deny, those dreams had become the highlight of her nights and she hated for them to be interrupted.

She reached for her phone which was on the nightstand and looked at the caller ID. Chika. Of course! Who else?
She answered the phone and put it to her ear, "Yes?" She drawled

"How many hours will it take you to pick your phone?"

She took the phone off her ears to give it an incredulous look as if Chika could see her expression, "Good morning to you too" she replied sarcastically
"How good my morning will be will be determined by how fast you can get here.... The same applies to your morning" she replied
"What are you on about?"
"You're fifteen minutes late for our morning work out. You know, the one you scheduled for 9am every Saturday."

Adun's eyes widened with recognition, "oh... " she looked at her wall clock across the room, it was almost twenty-fivw minutes past nine, "... Oh! Christ! I overslept... " she said as she hurried out of bed

"Ya think?" Chika retorted, "five minutes" she said and then cut the call.

Adun frowned as she made her way to the bathroom. It would surely take more than five minutes to take a quick bath

It was dumb to come here so early and dumb to remain here so late, even as obvious as it was that his target wasn't coming here today, but what was worse was that he could bet some of the patrons here also thought he was weird.

He had been walking through this rather large gym at ten minute intervals, searching for Adun, so he could 'mistakenly' bump into her. All he had gotten so far were appreciative stares and questioning looks. The last thing he wanted was for someone to register a complaint against him, it was his first day here, no need gaining popularity for a bad thing.

Patrick sighed to himself as he packed up his things into a small gym bag, he had to leave now. Shade would understand. The truth was, he was starting to get nervous and unsure of himself, various unnerving scenarios had come to him throughout yesterday concerning Adun and this entire agreement. He knew Shade wouldn't get raving mad if he somehow failed in his task, but just the idea of failing scared him. The last time his thoughts had been in such a twist was when his father had died and left him with a six-year old girl with ulcer. Fine, this situation was nowhere near as difficult, but it was complicated.

He didn't want to disappoint Shade, he didn't want her efforts to be in vain. He also didn't want to cause s rift between mother and daughter and if he failed, Adun would find him out. He couldn't even begun to imagine the implications of that. She would never forgive her mother.

He couldn't fail. He would have to get his act together, man up and carry this out flawlessly..... But that was a plan for another day.

He hung the gym bag across his shoulders and made his way out of the gym. He would have to drop by the pharmacy to get some medications for Veronica, he didn't need the stress of running out to get any for her, if she had a spell in the middle of the night.

He smiled at the thought of Veronica, the past month had really done her some good. Living well had done her a world of good, she was starting to add some flesh and her skin wasn't as pale as it used to be. She was also a lot more energetic. That was the best improvement for him, just seeing her play around and squeal like a child without tiring out in minutes brought an unexplainable sort of joy to him. She had missed out on that for years, missed out on running around with her mates, she was now older and couldn't join in such forms of entertainment, but he knew how important the teenage years were for most children, girls especially, and he would ensure she got the best throughout her teen years.

In order to do that though, he would have to complete the task given to him.

He grunted to himself as he made his way out of the exercise area and toward the stairs. This gym was a big establishment, he thought the owner did pretty great, it was obvious it was nowhere people of humble means spent their time. Shade and her daughter certainly had some enviably high standards, how the hell did she think him good enough to grasp Adun's attention? Even while his parents were alive, they were nowhere near this form of living, they did well for themselves considering he was the only child for a long while, but still, the Oche's were on another level.

He walked down the stairs as various thoughts ran through his head, his gaze was down for a brief second before he felt someone crash into him. He barely heard a shriek come from the person before he was instinctively reaching to grab her. He successfully caught the person he assumed to be female going by her low pitch.

Once the adrenaline rush died, he looked at the woman who had crashed into him and couldn't help the surprise on his face, "Adun" he called before he could stop himself.

He quickly steadied her on her feet, "I hope you're okay" he said as he inspected her for any injuries the way he would inspect Veronica whenever she fell

Adun visibly blushed at his inspection. What were the odds of him being at her gym? Was fate trying to force this man on her? She had just dreamt of him and here he was in the flesh, looking way better than her dreams could ever have thought up. Her eyes briefly scanned him, noting he had on a pair of gym shorts on and a muscle shirt that gave her an awesome view of his muscular biceps and broad chest. Nobody had the right to look this good in such a basic outfit. Guys dressed like this all the time here, but none of them had rocked the outift quite as good, she could only imagine how many women had swooned at the sight of him. Somehow, that thought didn't appeal to her.

"Adun, are you alright?" She heard him ask through the fog in her mind.

He remembered her name?, "i... Yes, yes i’m fine. Thank you... For saving me.... Again" she said, it had taken some effort, but she thankfully stringed an entire sentence together. At least in her dreams, she spoke enough words to not come off as a blubbering idiot, reality was not so kind.

He smiled at her, "That barely counts." He replied and then loosened the hold he had on her arms and created a reasonable distance between them.

As much as Adun admired his gentleman ways, she wished just a little, that he was still closer. She found it odd that he hadn't tried to take advantage by groping her or doing any of the inappropriate things she usually expected of men that looked like him. Maybe she had to stop sizing this man with the same tape she used for his ilk. Maybe he only shared their gorgeous looks and nothing else. But what were the odds he wasn't just like them?

She had so many questions to ask him about himself, she couldn't say why she was so interested in this man, but she was. He intrigued her.

"I could have tumbled down the stairs and broken my head if you didn't catch me" she argued

He shrugged, "... And that would have been my fault for being in your way" he countered, his smile unwavering. As much as he wanted to peg this as an act as well, he knew it was anything but. He was genuinely glad he had run into her and not just because it was part of a grand plan. He missed her face, her aura. He had almost forgotten how beautiful she was, but his meeting surely embedded her image to his brain. She looked so much better with less make-up on.

Her skin was such a beautiful shade of brown, like rich coffee beans. He wanted to touch her again. Her skin was so soft, perhaps the reason why he had taken more time than necessary, searching for injuries he knew didn't exist anyway. But, he wasn't one to take advantage in that manner. He wouldn't be pressing for anything. An indication of interest was all he usually sent out, he never pushed unless he got the go-ahead.

"Let's agree to disagree" she replied as she placed her hand upon his bicep in a similar manner like her mother had done at their first meeting.

"Okay. You gym here?" He asked casually, ignoring the heat that seemed to spread through his body at her touch

She nodded at his question, "Yes, weekly" she replied and then gave him a curious look, "How about you? I've never seen you here before today, I would remember if I had" she said

His smile grew wider, okay, maybe she did share certain characteristics with her mother, "It's my first day here, changed locations so I had to change gyms" he replied. The ease with which he told the lie surprised him.... But it technically was no lie.

She grinned at him, "Wow! That's... That's great, what are the odds of you joining here as well"... Surely, this had to be some sort of sign from the powers that be. He wouldn't be here of all places if the universe hadn't schemed some grand plan where she ended up with him.

He rubbed the nape of his neck, "I know, never thought i'd have the pleasure of seeing you again. " he smiled at her

"Same here, I .... " the sound of her phone ringing distracted her, "I'm sorry, i have to.... " he nodded his understanding as she rummaged through her gym bag to reach the device, inwardly cursing whatever unfortunate soul interrupting her limited time with Mr. Hot Chocolate, people picked the wrongest times to reach her.

She pulled the phone out of her bag and opened the case to find Chika's name. Her heart seized momentarily, damn it! She had totally forgotten she was waiting for her.

She looked up at Patrick who was giving her an odd stare, "Is everything okay?" He asked, his voice laced with concern at the pale look on her face.

She nodded just as the ringing stopped, "Yes, all is well. It's just my friend waiting for me, I have to go." She said just when the phone began ringing again.

"Wait" he called out as she rushed off.

she stopped and turned to him, "Yes" she couldn't stop the increase in her heartbeat as she waited to hear words she had dreamed of him saying. Chika could certainly wait

"I would like to see you again, i know you're in a rush, so, i can't make a convincing argument right now as to why I deserve your contact, but I would like it still... If that's okay by you" he finished

Oh, he had made all the convincing arguments he would need in her fantasies, she didn't care for any in reality. She smiled at him, thinking how lucky she was that he fancied her as well.

"Sure" was all she could say, anything more would have shown too much excitement

He pulled out his phone, tapped it a couple of times snd handed it to her, "Here, just type it in"

She made sure to not snatch the phone from him like she really wanted to, and typed the number in slowly, ensuring she didn't miss a digit or misplace any. She read it a couple of times to assure herself before her ring tone interrupted again.

"Here it is" she handed the device to him and hurried away only catching his promise to call before she answered her phone and said to her impatient friend, "I'm coming"

After this encounter, she was on a high nobody could get her off from, not even Chika